Why Generating More Google Reviews Can Boost Your Business
Owning a business means providing exceptional customer service, and as business owners we all know to well that online customer reviews can be very influential.
People trust what others close to them have to say, and they perhaps will trust what recent customer shave to say about your business.
These days, your Google reviews can provide a snapshot of your business and give a prospective customer a vision of what they can expect.
A recent survey by Zendesk reported the impact of customer services on customer lifetime value.
Participants ranked customer service as the #1 factor impacting vendor trust, and 88% have been influenced by an online customer service review when making a buying decision.
As if that’s not enough
Roughly two-thirds of participants (69% for positive and 63% for negative) reported that they did recall reading the online reviews.
Sadly, Many business owners get hung up on the few negative reviews they receive, perhaps even trying to combat the issue by inciting a debate on the customer’s experience.
Nevertheless
The most effective way to shape your business and reduce the spread of negative reviews is to encourage your satisfied customers to take the time and little effort to write about their past experience on your Google My Business page
Here’s why!
We focus on ranking our clients businesses on Google because that’s where the majority of people search for local products and services.
Best of all
With a properly optimised Google My Business page with at minimum 5 positive reviews, your business will have a better chance of reaching the top 3 spots in the local map listings (aka Snack Pack).
Google uses reviews as one of the key ranking factors for their Local Business listings.
More specifically, Google looks at the number of reviews and the star rating given. Once your Google My Business page receives 5 or more reviews, the stars rating will show up in the local business listings.
I don’t think I need to go over how this makes for increased conversions.
And what’s more
Over 90% of consumers read through online business reviews and as they trust these reviews, consumers will most likely form an immediate opinion of your business.
So since Google considers highly rated reviews on a Google My Business page to be a clear indication this particular business is providing value to its customers and is worthy of a high position in the search results, how do you get them?
There is good news!
You can get these positive reviews simply by asking your customers.
Get More Positive Google Reviews With A Thank you email
Sending out a simple thank you email follow up will encourage your customers to provide feedback and leave that positive review you’ve long waited for. Don’t wait too long though as customers are more likely to leave positive reviews right away.
By the way
Sending your customers directly to your Google My Business page will help to achieve the end result.
To get this done you will need to follow this process to make sure the link is going directly to your review page.
On desktop, search for your business on Google of course (be sure to be logged into your Google account), and you should get the knowledge graph appear on the right hand side
Click on the “write a review” link and a pop up window should appear where you can leave a review.
Don’t panic!
There is no need to leave your self a review; we just want to grab the URL to this page.
Now just simply copy the URL in your web browser and paste it into a text doc for now. You can close down your web browser now.
The link should look something like this:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=resilient+digital&oq=resilient+digital&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i61j69i60l2.4218j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#lrd=0x6b733fba153d152d:0xa3c6d1e64570786e,3,,
Next we need to make this link look a bit more professional. As you can see it would be very difficult to get someone to click on this.
If your website is built on the WordPress CMS, I recommend using the plugin called Pretty Links. This will enable you to create a custom URL using your website’s domain.
Create a custom link something like this:
www.mybusinessdoamain.com.au/google-review
This custom link will work across all devices.
Other CMS options include using the Google URL link shortener or perhaps for the tech savvy creating a custom URL and redirecting it to your long Google review link through your htaccess file.
So now you have a custom link to your Google My Business page, send your clients a simple thankyou email including the link.
Additionally,
If you’re a bricks & mortar business or you have flyer packs for instance, there is a neat way of having a branded printable instructions handout for how to leave a Google review on desktop and mobile device.
For free you can utilise Whitespark’s Review Handout Generator.
You will have to create a free account with Whitespark, however the upside I guess is you can learn more info on how to get your business listed in Google Local business Listings.
If this all sounds pretty cool, and you would like more info, then complete our discovery form.
Last thing is now you have an action plan to go out and get more high quality Google reviews for your business. Be sure to take action and become visible online.
